Great advice...

... I intend to follow:

The world is your playground. Why aren't you playing? -Ellie Katz-

Our niece Maddie having a jolly good time (photo taken by V. at Easter this year)

Update

As a compulsive list maker I love nothing more than conjuring up an endless variety of To Do - and Wish lists, thereby feeling like my scattered brain has some control over my life. Let's call it my specific way of dealing with the constant chaos in my head - once an idea or thought is written down on paper I feel it can be released from my overcrowded mind. A day after my 29th birthday last year I came up with a list called "Thirty things to do before I'm 30". If you're curious, you can find it here. The reason for this was that I saw the big 3-0 as an excellent opportunity to get a whole lot of things done that I've been talking about for aaages but never got round to. Rather than viewing 30 as the end of an era I was really excited about the notion of starting afresh. So no "quarterlife crisis" or "turning 30 blues" for me, thank you very much! My "Thirty things to do before I'm 30" list was a rather random collection of future activities and achievements; some quite trivial, others more serious, and a few just overly ambitious. I managed to tick off only 17 out of 30, which is't a great mathematical result, but some of the ones I got done were pretty major:

• Visit family and friends in Belgium & Japan :-)
• Buy a house (just two days before my 30th last week!!)
• Come up with some kind of career plan
• Spend a short break on a Pacific island
• Walk the Tongariro Crossing
• Plan a big around-the-world trip
• Keep this blog going

I didn't manage to learn Arabic, drive a scooter, climb the summit of Mount Taranaki or accept bad hairdays but there's plenty of time left for that, right?

Thirtieth

"30 is the new 20, unless you're 20, then it's the new 40." - Dane Peddigrew

I usually celebrate my birthday just with Vaughan but with the big 3-0 approaching it seemed that something a bit more elaborate was in order. So on Friday night the club @ Sandwiches was transformed into a relaxed lounge full of friends (+ one family member - thanks Kath!), candles, champagne, cupcakes and dancing. Vaughan captured a few moments:

Asmaa, Albie & Sahra

Lovely shot taken by Mariko :-)

Mariko & Julia

Resident photographer Vaughan & Frederick

Duncan, Angela & Ivan

Kathi & Paula having a laugh

Fashionistas Kate & Melissa ;-)

Shaking our booty!

Stu & Amanda Chilling in Sandwiches before we headed out for a dance

Struan & Vaughan

Melissa & Dave

Something to ponder...

I read a few articles in a Flemish newspaper today that made me wonder why the topic of Muslim women wearing hijab (headscarves) in Europe is such a pressing issue. Shouldn't politicians like Sarkozy focus on more urgent matters like the current economic recession, global warning, unequal trade relations and growing poverty?

Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, stated in an official address that the burqa, a garment worn by many Muslim women, has no place in France as it was a sign of the subjugation of women. The debate about the burqa is reminiscent of a controversy that raged for a decade in France about Muslim girls wearing headscarves in class. Eventually, a law was passed in 2004 banning pupils from wearing conspicuous signs of their religion at state schools. Critics say the law stigmatised Muslims at a time when France should have been fighting discrimination in the job and housing markets.

Students in Antwerp public schools will no longer be allowed to wear a headscarf. Other religious symbols are also going to be banned from the first of September. Political and religious symbols will be banned in the public schools of Antwerp from next school year. According to the school principals religious symbols clash with the principles of equality and the freedom of choice for students. "We have noticed that certain students have started feeling less comfortable over the past few years," says school principal Karin Heremans. "We have the impression that some students are under social pressure to conform and wear religious symbols." The decision to ban religious symbols from the public schools has drawn criticism from the immigrant community. The public schools have many students of different ethnic backgrounds. "This is an emotional decision but the students are at the centre of the discussion. It is a decision that is in the interest of the students."

In my opinion these kind of measures will only further alienate and antagonize Muslims in Western societies. I'm by no means an expert but several of my female NZAID students are Indonesian and wear headscarves without anyone ever commenting on this. Other women in our acquaintance here are Moroccan, Iraqi and Egyptian, with some of them choosing the hijab and others opting out. The ones I know who do cover their heads are no less educated, intelligent and independent and they're certainly not 'oppressed' or 'subjugated'! It's interesting to note the different perception of Muslims in New Zealand compared to countries like Belgium, France or Italy. Definitely something to ponder...

To the newcomer, the sight of women wreathed in black, and robbed of both colour and contour, falls on an unfamiliar portion of the senses. At first sight, all manner of associations rise alongside in the outsider's mind - lewd, obscurely fearful, or indignant, but always heavy with political connotation- and are strengthened by the endless portrayal of chador-clad and burqa-enveloped women in every photograph and film connected to the Islamic world as if they hold some meaningful clue to understanding the life of an entire culture. Such images are always evocative, but not particularly useful; because once you are over this early frisson, they become what they are: ordinary, like the sight of an Englishman with an umbrella. -Jason Elliott, Mirrors of the Unseen, Journeys in Iran, p.76-

Mantra

Life has been a bit stressful and overwhelming lately so I've adopted a wise new mantra (with thanks to Elizabeth Gilbert):

I am my best person when I have less on my plate